422719 Thu Jul 19 10:02:19 -0700 2007 28 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 2764528 Hello, We'll be driving through Marin and Sonoma counties soon on our way to the coast (gualala). I love cheese, and have always wanted to visit a cheese tasting room. Whether it's a farm, ranch, or local store with a good selection, I would appreciate your recommendations. Thanks! RS Thu Jul 19 10:02:20 -0700 2007 90989 rubysage 1 2764625 Marin French Cheese (Rouge et Noir) has tours but their cheese isn't very interesting. The "Sonoma Cheese Factory" is now just a deli. Andante's the best but she doesn't have tours or tastings. I'm not sure which of the following have tours or retail operations. Thu Jul 19 10:25:25 -0700 2007 2764528 11369 Robert Lauriston 2 2765733 Spring Hill has a very generous tasting at the farm. Don't know if there is a tour. Check out their butter if they have it. Thu Jul 19 14:27:27 -0700 2007 2764625 27856 chowetta 3 2766476 I've taken a group to Spring Hill for a tour by prior arrangement. Worth a call to see if this is still an option. Bodega Goat Cheese does a great tour. There's a small fee, but more than worth it for the experience and cheese tasting. http://www.sonic.net/~bdgagoat/about.html Thu Jul 19 18:50:59 -0700 2007 2765733 10039 Melanie Wong 4 2767723 Link: Fri Jul 20 09:00:48 -0700 2007 2766476 11369 Robert Lauriston 2 2769970 >Marin French Cheese (Rouge et Noir) has tours but their cheese isn't very interesting.< I've been a fan of their Schloss cheese for a long time. I don't know of any other cheese like it. It's probably not for everybody, but you won't know unless you try it. Fri Jul 20 23:34:40 -0700 2007 2764625 10724 Mick Ruthven 3 2770309 The schlosskranz is also good. I think it's the same stuff in a different shape. Sat Jul 21 08:06:26 -0700 2007 2769970 11369 Robert Lauriston 3 2808664 I agree. Schloss and Schlosskranz are both good - but strong. There are some blues - notably the goat - that can be good, depending on aging. The regular Camembert, after enough aging, gets interesting. A bit grassy, not as earthy as a real French raw milk Camembert, but at least it's legal in the USA. You can self-taste everything, and they are helpful in the store (normally). Thu Aug 02 15:45:19 -0700 2007 2769970 113375 salutlemonde 1 2764748 Vella Cheese noted above is the real thing, meaning they make their own cheeses (and also sell other cheese). They're about two blocks off the Sonoma town square. I don't think they have a tour, but they're very friendly and generous with tasting. They specialize in Dry Jack (in two stages of aging) which has a lot more flavor than the normal "Monterey Jack". Their website is interesting. http://vellacheese.com Thu Jul 19 10:52:55 -0700 2007 2764528 10724 Mick Ruthven 2 2769017 Vella's at Ferry Plaza on Saturdays, so there's no need to drive to their Sonoma store to taste their stuff. Andante, Bellwether, and Matos are also at that market. Fri Jul 20 15:02:08 -0700 2007 2764748 11369 Robert Lauriston 3 2769975 >Vella's at Ferry Plaza on Saturdays, so there's no need to drive to their Sonoma store to taste their stuff.< I'm in Sonoma more often than at the Ferry Plaza on Saturdays :-) Fri Jul 20 23:37:56 -0700 2007 2769017 10724 Mick Ruthven 1 2764821 If you decide to go to Marin French Cheese note that it is not actually in Petaluma at all, but quite far out of town. We ended up missing the tour because the drive took longer than expected. Only five minutes late, but they wouldn't let us join. Did a little tasting in the gift shop and discovered that I don't like quark. (Despite the cool name.) Thu Jul 19 11:09:19 -0700 2007 2764528 11231 Glencora 2 2764859 Don't write off quark based on theirs. MFC's only really good cheese is the Schlosskranz. The "camembert" / "brie" is passable if you age it for a few weeks, not much flavor but pleasantly buttery. Thu Jul 19 11:18:52 -0700 2007 2764821 11369 Robert Lauriston 3 2770488 Marin French Cheese has a few other good cheeses. They've improved quite a bit in the past few years. Their Yellow Buck Chevre is very good -- it won the American Cheese Society's Best American Cheese award in 2005. I also like their Yellow Buck Camembert, the Schloss and Schlosskranz (a cheese that reminds me of the long lost New York classic cheese, Liederkranz,) and another award-winning cheese, their Chevre Blue. Sat Jul 21 09:38:05 -0700 2007 2764859 10644 Nancy Berry 4 2770513 Something's wrong with those awards. Yellow Buck isn't bad but it's bland and boring compared with Andante's. Sat Jul 21 09:48:40 -0700 2007 2770488 11369 Robert Lauriston 5 2770537 I really like the Yellow Buck Chevre -- note that this is a different cheese from the Yellow Buck Camembert. I think that you have to age it a bit or look for an older one in the store because they release their cheeses young. Sat Jul 21 09:57:03 -0700 2007 2770513 10644 Nancy Berry 2 2769277 Call first too, I was there recently and they were not doing tours. They may have started them up again though. Just check before you go. Either way it's a good place to picnic with some cheese and wine. I liked their version of bleu. Fri Jul 20 16:43:16 -0700 2007 2764821 15083 sgwood415 3 2771084 I've never had much luck getting tastes or information from the counter people at MFC. And it's all pre-packed so you get a choice of one or two sizes. So I long ago at random bought some schloss and liked it a whole lot and haven't strayed. On the other hand, I'm only up there halfway though a day-long bike ride so pretty much anything with calories is the most delicious thing I've ever eaten.... The picnic grounds are real nice and the store has everything necessary for a great lunch. It's precisely 9 miles west of Petaluma. I think the store closes at 4 but I couldn't find any indication on their website. Sat Jul 21 14:39:11 -0700 2007 2769277 25310 Chuckles the Clone 1 2767763 Cowgirl Creamery has delicious artisan cheeses using local ingredients. They are at the far end of Pt. Reyes Station (and also in the SF Ferry Bldg). Fri Jul 20 09:09:52 -0700 2007 2764528 106581 asc339 2 2768480 DEFINITLY Cowgirl Creamery if you have the time to drive to Point Reyes, its about 30 minutes from Petaluma Fri Jul 20 12:12:36 -0700 2007 2767763 74399 fyoulady 3 2768508 I don't think Cowgirl Creamery is worth the drive. The place feels pretty much like the Ferry Building, bunch of upscale food shops including a cheese store. Sometimes you can look at them make cheese through a window. Fri Jul 20 12:18:26 -0700 2007 2768480 11369 Robert Lauriston 4 2768515 Links to Cowgirl shops: Fri Jul 20 12:21:55 -0700 2007 2768508 11369 Robert Lauriston 4 2769000 I agree. Cowgirl isn't set up for tasting, other than the few samples you might try before making a purchase. Here's more about Petaluma Creamery, Spring Hill's retail operation in the town of Petaluma, or follow the links to more about the farm store. Looking at some stainless steel vats through a window at Cowgirl can't compare to the sights and sounds (and smells) of being on a dairy farm with goats or cows at Spring Hill or Bodega Goat cheese. http://www.chowhound.com/topics/370394#2285271 Fri Jul 20 14:55:27 -0700 2007 2768508 10039 Melanie Wong 4 2770840 I agree--certainly would not recommend a drive to Pt Reyes Station just for CG Creamery when they are right there in the Ferry Building. However, if visiting West Marin for the beaches. hiking, birding, etc. it is a great place to stop. (Same could be said for Hog Island Oysters, although in their case visiting the farm on Tomales Bay feels nothing like visiting them in Ferry Bldg.) By the way, Tomales Bay Foods, the place in Pt. Reyes Station that houses CG Creamery, doesn't really have a "bunch of upscale food shops", I would say. It has only a produce stand featuring locally-grown things, the Creamery stand, and then a deli counter now operated by Cowgirl Creamery which has pretty good stuff like Fra Mani salumi plus their own salads, sandwiches, meats, etc. And some wines. So, yes, more upscale than the local grocery or Toby's Feed Barn, but nothing at all on the size-scale of the Ferry Bldg. Or the upscale. Sat Jul 21 12:39:15 -0700 2007 2768508 10927 alfairfax 5 2770908 The Ferry Building's a lot bigger, true. Tomales Bay Foods felt to me like a smaller version of Rockridge Market Hall or the Alameda Marketplace. Sat Jul 21 13:14:44 -0700 2007 2770840 11369 Robert Lauriston 1 2770399 My wife and I visited a shop in Glen Ellen, Sonoma County, in the Jack London Village, two weeks ago. There was a cafe, an olive oil tasting room, and a couple of other shops. The cheese tasting area was in a corner of the cafe, and was led by a very knowledgeable cheesemonger. I'd recommend a visit. Sat Jul 21 08:51:45 -0700 2007 2764528 27748 rruben1 1 2774237 I would just add that Bellwether Farms isn't open to the public, but if you go to Cowgirl or to The Cheesemaker's Daughter in the town of Sonoma, for example, you can certainly taste their products. Mon Jul 23 08:16:50 -0700 2007 2764528 97804 cmvan 1 2808581 I highly recommend Matos Cheese Factory. My family has gone there for many years, and it's really a farm. You drive down LLanos Road until you see their little sign that says Joe Matos Cheese, and head down the gravel (now halfway paved) driveway and park between the barn and the cheese house. Most of the Matos family lives on that farm, and speaks mainly portugese. The cheese they make is St. Jorge cheese, somewhere between an aged swiss and sharp cheddar. Mary Matos (Joe's wife) usually cuts you a nice sample, and then you tell her how many pounds you want off of the wheel they have ready. If you want a whole wheel, they have a variety of sizes from 8 to 20 lbs. that will age nicely at home. The cheese is great for eating with fruit or making an outstanding mac and cheese. Also, Marin French Cheese is where my family usually has a picnic at the end of one of our "cheese runs." We go to all the farms in the area for cheeses and fruit, getting some salami and bread in Petaluma or at Andy's Market on Hwy.116, and then filling out the picnic with some Triple Cream Brie (ask for well aged) and Quark. They have a great picnic area, with a pond and ducks to feed. Very pretty setting, even if the cheese is only a 9 out of 10. Thu Aug 02 15:20:16 -0700 2007 2764528 115971 goddess.girl 2 2808679 No ducks when I was there. (And it was hot! Even in the shade.) Thu Aug 02 15:50:34 -0700 2007 2808581 11231 Glencora